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0.27

Rothbury

Coquet
Northumberland Rivers catchment • Rothbury • Northumberland • ID: 022009 • Level
(33m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 522 views

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Current Level
0.265 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.276 m
24h Min
0.264 m
Typical Range
0.26 - 1.80
m
Highest Recorded
4.05 m
6 Sep 2008
Since Feb 1978
Current level is 7% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
24 Aug 00:15 ▬ steady 0.265 m
24 Aug 00:00 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 23:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.265 m
23 Aug 23:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.264 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.265 m
23 Aug 18:30 0.265 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2011 for the 7 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.6 km away).

8flood warnings 61flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 7 Dec 2024River Coquet at Brinkburn and Weldon

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 2
2025 0 3
2024 2 5
2023 1 7
2022 0 1
2021 0 7
2020 0 2
2019 1 2
2018 0 1
2017 0 4
2016 2 6
2015 1 5
2013 0 7
2012 1 8
2011 0 1

Warnings apply to a whole flood area, not necessarily this exact spot. Years before 2006 aren't covered by the EA's historic record. See also the Rothbury flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Rothbury
  • Watercourse: River Coquet
  • Nearest Town: Rothbury
  • County: Northumberland
  • Nearest reservoir: Fontburn (8.5 km) · 98.5% full (as of 28 Dec 2025)
  • Coordinates: 55°18'30"N 1°53'46"W (55.308429, -1.895992)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1971
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 022009
  • EA Gauge ID: 022009-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Northumberland Rivers
  • Typical Range: 0.261 – 1.800 m
  • Drainage Area: 346 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.27 m (EA at 24 Aug 00:15)
  • Flow Archive: National River Flow Archive ↗

Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.

Catchment Character

🌊 Steep & flashy Steep catchment sheds rain quickly — expect fast, sharp rises after heavy rain.

Your catchment is all the land that drains rainfall into the river above this gauge. Its character — how steep, wet, wooded, urban or chalky that land is — decides how fast rain here turns into a rising river. A steep, bare or clay catchment is “flashy” (rises and falls quickly, floods easily); a flat, chalk or well-wooded one is slow and steady. The tiles below put numbers to that; the flow-duration curve reads left-to-right from the river’s typical high flows (Q5) down to its low flows (Q95) — a steep curve means a flashy river.

The physical character of the land that drains to this gauge, and how it shapes its flood response — from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Baseflow Index
0.40
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,039 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +9% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.2%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
137 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
284 m³/s
6 Sep 2008
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 5.9118.003.400.8805% (high)% of days exceeded95% (low)
Daily flow (m³/s) exceeded each % of the time — a steep curve is flashy, a flat one is steady. Q5 high · Q50 median · Q95 low.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 14%Grassland 60%Arable 6%Heath/scrub 18%Urban 1%
Heath/scrub 27% → 18% since 1990

Photos

Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Photos © NRFA / UKCEH & the measuring authority — shown at web resolution. Full gallery on the NRFA ↗

About this gauge

Velocity area station with informal mill weir d/s providing good control at most flows.

More detail

The catchment

Natural, upland catchment draining the Cheviot hills and the Northumbrian fells. Low permeability (Igneous, Cementstone and Fell Sandstone) geology. Almost half of the catchment overlain by superficial deposits, including peat in uplands and Boulder Clay and alluvium in the lower valley. Land use is mainly upland pasture with grazing for cattle and sheep, with isolated areas of upland heath and woodland and arable in lowlands. Significant areas of overbank storage on floodplain that attenuate hydrographs. No known catchment changes.

The station

Velocity area station with cableway; informal mill weir below station provides good control which should hold for most flows. The timber weir crest was replaced with concrete during modification for calibration in 1972. Well-confined section between steep banks, with a straight approach.

How it measures flow

One peak flow rating applied across period of record. Good fit to gaugings, gauged close to AMAX2.

Flow regime

Some small groundwater abstractions (Tosson and Cartington springs) but sensibly natural.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2019 (WINFAP Files v8).

Descriptions from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH). NRFA station record ↗

Gauge Details

How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).

Gauge type
Velocity–area
Operating since
1972
Station datum
70.7 mAOD
Flow record
1972–2024 · 52 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1972
Hydrometric area
22
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Coquet at Rothbury flooding today?

The current level is 0.27m, which is within the typical range of 0.26 to 1.80m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Rothbury?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, updated roughly every 15 minutes.

What is a normal level for the River Coquet at Rothbury?

The typical range at this station is 0.26m to 1.80m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.80m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.

How often is this river level data updated?

Readings are taken by the Environment Agency gauge roughly every 15 minutes and FloodRadar refreshes its data continuously, so the level shown is normally less than an hour old.

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📮 Flood risk by postcode near this gauge

Postcodes within 5 km with properties in the Environment Agency’s rivers-and-sea flood-risk bands:

Check any UK postcode’s flood risk →

🏠 Buying or renting around here? Get the Property Flood-Risk Report for any English postcode — official risk band, floods since 1946, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →